Institute of Associations
The Five Encounters

The Five Encounters is a series of layered gatherings bringing together art, conversation and experience, organised by Institute of Associations in co-production with Pop Up Cinema and DansBrabant. Around The Five, a multidisciplinary performance by Merijn Bisschops, explores five urgent themes that divide and connect our times. Each encounter opens from a different perspective. Sometimes philosophical, sometimes activist, sometimes playful or vulnerable. The topics? Sexual freedom, cancel culture, the (fe)male gaze, pigeonholing, and the paradox of freedom.

Each meeting is a mini-universe with its own atmosphere, location and programme: from dance film to panel discussion, from workshop to art intervention. The Five Encounters and individual programme sections can be visited separately, together forming an ongoing exploration of freedom, identity and expression. Check below for an overview of all encounters.

1. Have we become more prudish?
Sunday, 30 November 2025, 2 p.m.
@ Blue Collar & Area51, Eindhoven

Shiny sixpacks in our feeds. Ultra-short skirts on the streets. Bodies are polished and sold as an ideal image. We show off our bodies, but as soon as it comes to real nudity, touch or intimacy, we cramp up. How do we move between sexual urges and learned prudery, between the pain of cross-border behaviour and a society that forces human contact into a straitjacket?

Where the sexual revolution 60 years ago pushed the boundaries of what was permissible, we now see an opposite movement. The liberation of the time is giving way to new forms of shame and control. A 200-year-old condom depicting a half-naked nun and three priestly erections is causing protests at the Rijksmuseum. AI tools are used to distribute fake nude images: celebrities face them, but so do young schoolchildren.

How do these dilemmas relate to our instincts, past freedoms and changing social codes? In this encounter, we explore the friction between sexual freedom and regulation, desire and cramping.
- Have we become more prudish or has our embarrassment changed shape?
- Have we become sexually freer or have we adopted new unwritten rules?
- How do cultural differences and social media influence our view of intimacy?
- What do we lose if touch is no longer free expression, but risk management?

Together with artists, speakers and performers, we will explore the stories behind our shame and talk about the deeper layers of intimacy: about touch as an art form, the body as a political statement and vulnerability as strength.

With:
Column by Siham Amghar and conversation with Linda de Munck (presenter/ influencer), Anne Siemons (Sexologists with Two) and Siham Amghar (poet).
Moderator Jeremy Heshof (relationship therapist).
Workshop by Ulrike Doszmann.
Performance: The Five, music & dance film by Merijn Bisschops in response to the book De Vijf by A.H.J. Dautzenberg. Performed by Zwerm & Karen Willems. Choreography: Tegest Pecht-Guido. Performers dance film: Savannah du Toit, Rose Langley, Marisol Costa and Rusty Warren.
Video art and dance videos i.c.w. Pop Up Cinema & DansBrabant. DJ Miss Milivolt. Striptopia (redesigned strip club experience).

A production by IoA, in co-production with DansBrabant & Pop Up Cinema. Made possible by the Municipality of Tilburg and the Province of North Brabant.

THE FIVE ENCOUNTERS

1. Have we become more prudish?
Sunday, 30 November 2025, 2 p.m.
@ Blue Collar & Area51, Eindhoven

2. Does the (fe)male gaze exist?
Thursday, February 5, 2026, 7 p.m.
@ Mezz, Breda

3. Who pierces the bubbles?
Sunday 29 March 2026, 2 p.m.
@ Hall of Fame, Tilburg

4. Do we want to see everything?
Thursday 23 April 2026, 7pm
@ Willem Twee Poppodium, 's-Hertogenbosch

5. Are we limited by our freedom?
Sunday, June 28, 2026, 2 p.m.
@ Hall of Fame, Tilburg